While my son Todd was in LA for a month, at the WPT tourney, his beloved blue heeler died. “Coon Dog” had a history of liver cancer but was expected to live another year or so. Todd’s wife Anjela didn’t tell Todd until he got home from the tournament, which I thought was the correct thing to do. Poker players need to keep in focus to play these big tournaments and I know how upset I would be if Casper or Cutie passed away. I’m sure all the animal lovers that read this will agree.

Congrats to Annie Duke for winning the NBC Heads Up tournament. I was also glad to see Erik Seidel, who is my first choice for this year’s poker hall of fame, come in second. Erik had a bad streak going in this tournament (0-5) and he needed this run to solidify his position as one of the all-time great players. Actually, I think Annie had a bad record going into this year. A 6-0 run will help that though.

After questioning whether I should play or not, I decided I might as well because the hours you play are very short. As soon as I started I felt more alert which confirms my belief that pro players need action. After not playing for 3 months, I made it to the Elite Eight before losing and felt great. After hearing so much about the “young guns” in the poker world and how much better they are than the “old timers”, I felt sorry for them (us). So when I walked into the room for the final eight I was amazed. Of course I was the oldest, but the youngest was in their middle 40’s. What happened to the youngsters?

The guys that robbed the EPT in Berlin made a nice score. They took 800,000 Euros at gunpoint. I’ve been there and done that 5 times in my life and believe me, it’s no fun. I’ll bet everybody that was there will remember it the rest of their lives. The young man that won the event in Berlin was Kevin MacPhee from Idaho. He is on Twitter and sent me a tweet about bringing the $1,000,000 back to the USA. Congrats Wu_Wizard.

I decided to pass on the Bay 101 tournament in San Jose. The hours are much longer and I’m not sure I’m ready for those 14-16 hour days. It’s too bad because that is one of the better tournaments. They even send a private jet for select players. I’ll be ready next year!

-DB